Page 113 of Alpha Chase

A low whistle sounds out from somewhere across the pit and I snap my head around to see Theo and Gray striding up, their twin mates in tow. “So this is where the delinquents hang out, huh?” Theo calls, flickers of firelight illuminating his face as his lips curl into a smirk.

“Guess so, now that you’ve arrived,” Chase fires back, grinning wickedly as Theo approaches and offers him a fist-bump. Those two have formed a bond since they were both inducted as alphas of their packs a few weeks ago, swapping stories about the growing pains of assuming leadership and realizing that they’re more similar than they knew.

Theo barks a laugh, sinking down into Cal’s vacant chair beside Chase. Brooke drops onto his lap while Gray and Fallon take the bench beside them, and just as he did my first time out to the pit, Levi springs up from his seat and heads for the cooler, returning with an armful of beers. He hands them out to our guests, offering two more to Chase and I before reclaiming his chair.

“How’s it going, Vee?” Fallon asks, popping the top off her beer and tossing the cap into the fire. It hits a burning log, sending sparks scattering toward the sky. “Has Baby Alpha been taking good care of you, or do I need to knock some sense into him?” She waggles her eyebrows teasingly, lifting the bottle to her lips and taking a sip.

I settle back against Chase’s chest, tilting my head all the way backwards to look up at him. “You know Chase, he’s a perfect gentleman,” I say with a coy smile, reaching up to pat him on the cheek patronizingly. Levi snorts from his perch beside us.

Chase catches my wrist, his eyes flickering with a sinister promise as he brings my hand to his mouth and presses his lips to my knuckles. “Damn right I am,” he murmurs against my skin, sending a shiver racing down my spine.

How is it that I just had him and I’m already down for another round? Fucking mate bond.

“All going well with the pack?” Gray questions, arching a brow in Chase’s direction as he slings his arm over Fallon’s shoulders.

Chase nods, releasing my wrist to retrieve his beer bottle from the arm of the Adirondack chair. Gray still comes by the packhouse a couple times a week to check in with Chase and help him learn the ropes of being Alpha, and his mentorship has helped immensely. Chase is like a new man- eager to learn and building confidence in his role at the head of our pack. I’m so damn proud of him.

“Ooh, I love this song!” I squeal as the first few beats of the new Beyonce bop sound out from the speaker, echoing off of the trees around us. I shoot to my feet, hopping in front of Fallon and Brooke and holding a hand out toward each of them. “Dance with me?”

Brooke hesitates, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, but Fallon immediately places her hand in mine and allows me to pull her to her feet. As soon as she’s standing, she drags her sister off of Theo’s lap and the three of us round the pit to where another group of girls are already dancing, the three of us shaking our hips to the music as we fall in with them.

It feels like old times- like we’re back at summer training camp together, tearing up the dance floor at the Goldenleaf bar. I was happy back then, carefree- and while life knocked me down afterward, I’m finally finding my way back to the girl I used to be, feeling more like myself than I have in a long time.

I toss my hair back and roll my body to the music, eyes wandering over the flames of the fire to meet Chase’s hungry gaze.He’s always watching.I put on a good show for him, smiling like a fool as I lose myself in the beat of the music dancing with the twins, wild and free and uninhibited. When the song ends, we’re all breathless and giggly, grabbing onto one another.

When the next song starts, I recognize it instantly, snapping my head around to peer over at Chase. His phone’s in his hand, a lazy grin stretching his lips as his eyes lock with mine. Of course he’s the one who picked this song.

As the first few bars of ‘Vienna’ring out, I throw my head back, laughing to the twinkling stars overhead.

Seven Months Later

“Chase Walker!” I roar, stomping down the stairs of the packhouse and pouring my frustration into every loud step. I reach the bottom of the staircase and spin to head straight for his office, heeled boots clomping against the hardwood the whole way.

I skid to a stop in the doorway of the office, fuming as he looks up at me from behind his desk, those dark eyes colliding with mine.

“Oh hey babe,” Chase greets, like he’s the picture of innocence. “What’s up?”

“What’sup?!” I parrot back to him, storming into the room, around the desk, and thrusting my phone toward him. “Why are the girls telling me that they’re coming over tonight for dinner?”

His eyes flicker down to my phone screen, where my group text with the other Lunas is visible. “Oh, that…” he murmurs, leaning back in his chair with a smug grin. He shrugs a shoulder nonchalantly. “I was gonna surprise you.”

“Surprise me?!” I ask, gaping down at him. “Were you going to surprise me by cooking a dinner for twelve, too?” I toss my phone onto his desk haphazardly. “We’ve talked about this, you can’t spring this kind of shit on me at the last minute!”

Chase laughs, leaning forward to grab me by the backs of my thighs and hauling me onto his lap effortlessly. “I already ordered from Dino’s,” he chuckles, caging me in his arms and nuzzling into the side of my neck, pressing his lips to his mark at the junction of my shoulder. I shudder at the sensation. “More than twelve,” he murmurs against my skin. “I invited the boys and Nessa, too.”

“What?!” I push back against his chest, staring at his smug face suspiciously as I narrow my gaze on him. “Why?”

Chase should know by now that I’m not a huge fan of surprises. Whenever that boy has something up his sleeve, it’s some obnoxious, extravagant gesture, like buying me a damn car or whisking me away for a spontaneous ‘honeymoon’ at the beach. He should also know by now that I don’t need any of those things to prove his devotion to me. It’s the little things that mean the most, like how he meticulously washes the fruit for my breakfast and strokes my hair while I fall asleep on his chest. Or like the other morning, when he woke me up by blasting‘Vienna’, standing over me on the bed and singing into my hairbrush. It’s those little, sweet, goofy things that make me fall in love with Chase Walker all over again every day.

He rubs circles on my bare thighs with his thumbs, grinning like the cat that got the cream. “Well I was gonna wait for Gray to share the good news, but…”

I squeal, unable to contain my excitement as it dawns on me exactly what this ‘surprise’ must be about. “I’m in?!”

Chase chuckles, reaching up to cup my face in his large hands and leaning his face close to mine. “You’rein, babe. You’re the squad’s newest tracker.”

I scream out in glee, throwing my arms around Chase’s neck and practically choking him with how hard I squeeze, my enthusiasm bubbling over into irreverent giddiness. “Ahh! I can’t believe it!”

His breath is hot against my hair as he laughs, winding his arms around me tightly, his heart beating strong against mine. “I can. I knew you’d kill those trials.”

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